Boats will be stopped, Abbott says

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the arrival of asylum seekers by boat has dropped dramatically since the election of the coalition government.

But Mr Abbott says he's under no illusion that people smugglers will continue to test the commonwealth's resolve to stop the flow of boats.

The prime minister told the South Australian Liberal Party annual meeting in Adelaide on Saturday that in the month since the government was elected arrivals were running at just 10 per cent of the worst level under Labor.

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Mr Abbott reaffirmed the new government's plan to accelerate free trade agreements with a number of countries.

He said those arrangements would be in the best interest of Australia and in the best interests of the nation's trading partners.

The PM has also urged new Labor leader Bill Shorten to allow the scrapping of the carbon tax to pass through the parliament.

This week the government released planned legislation which Mr Abbott said would cut electricity prices by nine per cent, gas prices by seven per cent and provide an overall saving to Australian households of $550 a year.

"Wouldn't that be a nice Christmas present to the people of Australia?," he said.

"But who is the person who wants to steal Christmas, at least when it comes to abolishing the carbon tax?

"Well, it's none other than the new leader of the opposition, good old electricity Bill Shorten."

Mr Abbott said unless Mr Shorten was willing to accept the will of the Australian people his tenure as Labor leader was likely to be "very short indeed".